Meet Moody Joody: Nashville's Rising Alternative-Pop Trio
Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris
In this episode of Music Matters with Darrell Craig Harris, Nashville-based alternative-pop trio Moody Joody shares their journey, creative process,
Key takeaways
- Moody Joody's music evolves organically through collaboration, often starting with a title or concept rather than a predefined structure.
Main topics
- Formation and creative chemistry of Moody Joody
- Collaborative songwriting process
Notable quotes
"We'll start something from ground zero in the room 99.9% of the time." – Andrew on their collaborative process.
Conclusion
Moody Joody's journey exemplifies how authenticity, collaboration, and patience
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:08) Welcome to Music Matters Podcast with Daryl Craig Harris. Join us as he explores all things music, bringing you exclusive conversations with Grammy winners, industry insiders, and some of the most exciting new indie artists breaking onto the scene. Speaker 5 (0:35) Moody Judy, how you guys doing? Speaker 2 (0:37) Good. How are you? Speaker 5 (0:39) Awesome. So we have the three of you joining us. We have Katie, Kayla, and Andrew, correct? Yeah. Hello. Cool. So tell me, I'll let whoever wants to start, but tell me about the band, how you guys got together. I think you've been, you formed around 2020. Is that correct? Speaker 1 (0:55) Yeah, so Katie and I met in Nashville because we got thrown into this group chat for like girl Nashville writers. And then one of our mutual friends was like, you know, when you get thrown in those group chats, there's like so many people. So we I think we met at like a show like in real life. And then one of our friends like encouraged us to like start writing together. So we just went to get like coffee at Frothy Monkey and just like became friends. that way. And then Andrew and I met at a Pale Waves concert. And then we like wrote a song together and like go see each other for like a year in true like Nashville fashion. And then started working together again. And Katie and I had started The Heat and brought it into Andrew. We gave him like a two week deadline. It was like the song has to come out in July. Put The Heat out and everything just kind of organically spiraled from there. People were like, what is this song? Are you going to do more music? We were like, we don't. have any more music. So you Speaker 5 (1:50) better figure it, figure that out. Right. Speaker 1 (1:52) Writing songs and putting them out. The rest is history. Yeah. Speaker 5 (1:55) Well, I love the style of the band. What would you, Andrew, what would you call the style? Would it kind of indie pop? I don't know if that Speaker 3 (2:02) that's, but I don't like labeling bands. You tell me. No, I mean, when we first started the band, there was like a little more of like an eighties new wave inspired like thread through it, which I think is still there to a certain degree, but. Since the band has evolved, I feel like we've explored a lot of different areas under the alternative indie pop rock umbrella. So it's just kind of, I don't really know what to call it anymore. It's just indie pop is fine. Indie pop rock. It's pretty broad, right? It gives Speaker 5 (2:35) you a broad brush. Yeah. Katie, talk about... So songwriting, how do you, I should actually, I'll ask all of you guys, how do you approach songwriting? Because I like what you do and it's, you know, you have your own style for sure. It's a certain sound. But can you talk about that for you? Like how you approach songwriting and lyrics and that kind of thing? Speaker 2 (2:53) Yeah. So honestly, we've kind of come up with our own little Moody Judy formula. And that typically looks like either Kayla or I will. bring in like a song title or a concept or a line and Speaker 2 (3:11) Kayla and I will kind of scheme on the couch and write lyrics while Andrew builds out the track is typically like we'll talk about like what we want the feeling of the song to be. And, you know, maybe we'll start on a chorus or just I don't know. It typically is Andrew scheming up a track. Kayla and I writing lyrics. Sometimes it's like I write a verse. Kayla writes a verse and then we. come together on the choruses and the bridge. But we've also done it other ways. Sometimes it's been way more laid back and random than that. But I think the common thread is that we start with a title, a song title. Speaker 5 (3:54) Yeah. Nashville's kind of known a little bit for having the songwriting sessions, like very kind of really organized songwriting, which can work. Obviously, it works for many artists in Nashville. But talk about that. Andrew, how you, because I mean, the production on the music is really awesome. I really dig what you're doing. But tell me about that. Obviously, you guys are very collaborative, which is amazing. But do you typically put the music first? Do you wait for lyrics? How does that process work for you Speaker 3 (4:22) guys? I mean, we almost never start. Well, okay. What I meant to say was like, I don't bring tracks in generally. Like, we'll start something. from ground zero in the room 99.9 % of the time. Like, so whether it's like she said, a lyric that they have or a title, I'll just kind of like, talk about that. And, you know, I'll look at the words and my I feel like my job is just like kind of matching, like interpreting those words and matching that to like the musical equivalent of what that makes me feel and what that feels like to me. So it's like, it is a very collaborative process in that sense where, and like she said, there are other times where we'll be in the room and I'll just start playing something and it'll spark some melody or, or whatever it is. So like, yeah. Speaker 5 (5:17) So, so very like organic, not just like, Speaker 3 (5:20) yeah. Like having a two o'clock writing session, Speaker 5 (5:23) which can work. It can work too. Obviously it does work for a lot of folks, but. Speaker 3 (5:28) Yeah, yeah, we've done it a million different ways at this point. But generally, yeah, it all starts with us, the three of us together in some capacity. Awesome. Speaker 5 (5:37) Kayla, do you guys, I've noticed that you released several singles. And like I mentioned, you have the new single coming out, Fantasyland. Well, actually came out on August 5th. And so you released several singles, and you're going to release the full length album. That seems like to be like the kind of plan for a lot of groups these days. Talk about that strategy. Speaker 1 (5:56) For just like release